This is a question I get a lot.
I mean it’s either cardio or strength training or both – right? Well, at a high level, sure. But if you really want your workouts to be the most effective, understanding the type of cardio and strength training you’re doing is key.
Wait, the hours on the treadmill or stair climber and doing countless sets of heavy lifting isn’t going to get me where I want to be?
Let me explain. Sure, walking, running, stairs and weight lifting are all great exercises.
BUT.
There are some really effective concepts that are utilized in exercise, workout and training programs that can increase your results and performance so I wanted to talk about them here. You’ll see that I reference some workout programs that utilize each specific concept but it’s only because these are the programs that I am most familiar with and know deliver results, there may certainly be many others as well.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Exercising at your max in short (less than 1 minute) intervals improves aerobic and anaerobic energy release and cranks up your body’s metabolism to burn calories faster. So you burn more stored body fat to help you recover from the workout. This occurs because the intense intervals fatigue your muscle groups. In turn, your body works overtime to replenish the tired muscles with oxygen, creating the AfterBurn Effect, which can last for up to 24 hours after you’ve finished class. The AfterBurn Effect means you actually continue to burn calories for hours after your workout is over.
HIIT burns up to 9x more fat and calories than traditional cardio. Hello! Who doesn’t want that?
Turbo Fire uses these HIIT moves known as “Fire Drills” where unlike traditional cardio, HIIT means working out at your max in up to 1-minute intervals. Even after you’re done with class, your body continues to burn calories for up to a 24-hour period. This means 4 minutes of HIIT can be more effective than 30 to 45 minutes on a treadmill or stair climber.
MAX Interval Training – long bursts of ultra-high intensity moves at your maximum exertion level followed by brief periods of rest. Due to this fact, each workout keeps your body fully engaged as you rotate between aerobic and anaerobic intervals. Max Interval training increases your RMR (Resting Metabolic rate) which in terms continues to aid in burning fat longer than just while you are working out. Hours after finishing your workout you would be burning calories at a higher rate than normal. It is the High intensity workout’s that aid in raising the RMR similar to what having more lean muscle mass does from lifting weights and you additionally get this from your workouts during Insanity. By creating leaner muscles you aid in the increase in your RMR.
INSANITY uses MAX Interval Training which replaces your moderate intensity exercise with maximum-intensity exercise, and your short intervals of intensity with short periods of rest. Adding high-intensity exercise, during which your heart rate is raised to 80 percent or more of its maximum capacity, forces your body to use fast-twitch muscle fibers not normally engaged in cardio exercise. These fast-twitch fibers continue burning extra fuel even during lower-intensity exercise.
Muscle Confusion – Also known as periodization, muscle confusion is a systematic variation in resistance training program; periodically varying program variables such as type of exercise, training weight (resistance),position, number of sets, rest interval between sets etc. Our bodies will quickly adapt to an exercise routine and resist responding when it knows what’s coming. We can prevent this “plateau effect” by continually challenging the body to reach its maximum potential. Since it’s impossible to continually improve at the same rate over long-term training, properly varying the training variables can limit training plateaus, maximize performance, and reduce the likelihood of over-training.
P90X utilizes muscle confusion and gives you intense cross-training with 5 hard-core resistance routines, 3 fat-scorching cardio routines, and 2 ab-ripping routines, as well as extreme yoga and advanced flexibility. You work all your muscles, from every possible angle, using many different techniques. Whether you want to lean out, bulk up, or get ripped, there are endless ways to mix and match the routines to keep you motivated.
Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP)– Doing a weighted resistance exercise prior to an explosive one can increase the amount of power produced.
Prior heavy loading induces a high degree of central nervous system stimulation, resulting in greater motor unit recruitment and force, which can last from five-to-thirty minutes; PAP intervention enhances the H-reflex, thus increasing the efficiency and rate of the nerve impulses to the muscle. HUH?
In laymen terms, this means that doing heavy lifting prior to explosive activity can actually help you fire higher threshold muscle cell motor units which, even even simpler terms, means that you will jump higher, run faster, or life more weight.
P90X2 and P90X3 are the next wave in applied science for body transformation takes P90x Muscle Confusion™ to a new level, focusing on strength, balance, mobility and explosive power. It takes the principles and foundation of the P90X concept and cranks up the intensity with exercises that demand balance, agility, and athleticism.
If you have questions, feel free to comment and I’d be happy to help!